Lawrie: “It’s a start, and it’s for us to build on.”

Edinburgh have made a flying start to the URC season. Inside the camp, though, nobody is getting carried away.

“It’s been an encouraging start, but that’s what it is,” said Lawrie. “It’s a start, and it’s for us to build on and make sure that the step change is here to stay.”

For Lawrie, the message to the squad is simple. “For us it’s about making sure that we’re consistent. Consistently boring, and just going after it every single day, really.”

“I’m excited about the good that we’ve got going at the minute, and the step change that I’m starting to see in how we’re performing is exciting. But it’s the start of our journey, let’s be honest.”

“We need to make sure that the perception is that this isn’t just a flash in the pan. This is a step change that’s here to stay.”

Edinburgh sit top of the BKT URC on 19 points after four straight wins. The run began with a 34-29 victory over Ulster in Belfast, which brought five points on the road.

The DHL Stormers were then edged 17-13 at Hive Stadium, before a bonus-point 29-12 win over Zebre Parma, with Matt Currie, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury and Ewan Ashman all crossing.

Last Friday, Edinburgh beat the 10bet Lions 31-10 at Hive Stadium for a third bonus point of the campaign, on a night when Marshall Sykes became the club’s 47th centurion.

The shift in how Edinburgh play started on the training pitch in pre-season.

“We’re training a different way,” said Lawrie. “There was definitely more of an emphasis on fast and speed, and I think that’s shown in how we’ve played thus far.”

“You get what you train, and I think it’s evident to see that our ball movement’s been better this year. It’s something that we need to continue to develop, because we are playing a slightly different style and teams will start previewing us and working out ways to try and stop how we’re looking to play.”

The set piece is part of that picture. Lawrie’s lineout group does its own homework before each game, with lock Rob Carmichael running the opposition’s calls in training.

“They work really hard. We’ve got a good unit there. There’s lots of IP in that group,” he said. “I’ll go in with a plan and challenge the guys to rip it apart and say, ‘What do you want to do?'”

“It becomes a transition, doesn’t it? When the hooker catches it over the back and then we’re shifting it wide. And we vary what we do, so it makes it tricky.”

Part of the story of the start has been the players who have grabbed their chance.

Scrum-half Hector Patterson scored against the Lions, and wing Geordie Gwynn sealed that win with a try in the left corner. Back-row Freddy Douglas crossed in Parma, while fellow back-row Tom Currie, wing Malelili Satala and prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty have all played their part in the unbeaten start.

Back-row Liam McConnell is one. He finished second in the league for lineout steals last season, and tops the charts alongside Glen Young this season, and Lawrie rates him and Young as two of the best jumpers in the competition.

“When you’ve got players with a super strength like that, you’re as well going after it,” he said.

McConnell’s work in the loose has impressed just as much. “When he gets in that wide channel, he gets free. He’s all arms and knees, and he’s got a good offloading game as well, so I think that complements what he’s done thus far.”

At prop, 20-year-old Ollie Blyth-Lafferty has been thrown in against established internationals, and Lawrie sees that as part of his development.

“He’s got a bit between his teeth. He wants to be super successful,” he said.

“For him to be exposed to these guys is important. If I didn’t think he was able to compete and show dominance at times, he wouldn’t [be playing].”

Lawrie also points to the depth behind the starting team. “It’s a 23-man game. Everybody’s involved. It puts an expectation on you to make sure that you perform.”

That applies to players who missed out on the Scotland squad too. “All you can control is your performance and that of your team,” he said. “Play well for Edinburgh, and that’s all you can control.”

All of that now goes into Saturday’s trip to Treviso, which Lawrie calls a massive test.

“Similar to Zebre, we want to put our game down,” he said. “We know they’re tough. They’re known as the Lions, and a wounded lion is always a dangerous animal.”

“So we need to make sure we go there and really focus on what’s working for us at the minute, and that is our DNA, which at the minute is fast and transition-based. It’s a strong defence as well, and the set-piece pressure that we’re able to put on teams. So we want to keep that going.”

Glasgow’s late win in Treviso last weekend showed just how hard it will be. “You’ve just seen Glasgow win there in the last four minutes of the game, through great resilience, so we’re going to have to be even better than where we’ve been.

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves this weekend. We know how tough it is out there.”